


The camping trip

by AniZH



Category: Victorious
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 03:58:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5990947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniZH/pseuds/AniZH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a month before graduation and the group goes camping. During the trip, Tori realizes some things about Beck and Jade she never really has before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beck's possessiveness

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new fic.  
> It's about Tori noticing new things about Beck and Jade in their relationship. Most things are very random and small. There will be nine each with their own chapter and then a tenth chapter which will kind of summarize everything before. I have already outlined all chapters and can say that every one after this will be only about... half the length. So, it will be all very short but that also means I can probably update twice a week.  
> Now to the most important part: This fic is very heavily inspired by WoNdY Alice's 10 Things on fanfiction.net which you should read if you haven't already. :) Luckily, she gave me permission to write something similiar. It isn't actually all that similiar because in my story Tori's findings aren't all that big etc - but the idea is totally hers, so thank you again for allowing me to use it. :)  
> Now I hope you'll enjoy reading this.

It’s just a month until graduation and they decide to take a trip over the weekend, all six of them.  
Tori is the one who starts talking about going camping, having very fond memories of the few times she has gone with her family. Robbie seems to hesitate a little at first – something about the woods being scary – and Jade declares she won’t go if they will camp when Tori starts with it but Beck seems to convince her that it will be fun.  
Tori is glad that Trina for once doesn’t invite herself into their trip although she has the time. But she hates camping.  
They decide what each person will bring. Tori grabs two tents, each for three people, from her aunt. Beck and Jade have already said that they would bring a seperate tent they would sleep in, but these are the only others the group has access too.  
And Tori doesn’t know if it’s really appropriate for the couple to share a tent – and she kind of hopes they‘ll come to another decision when they are there.  
But while the others promptly set up the two tents, Beck and Jade truly set up their own. Tori still isn’t sure about it but they put it so close that they probably... won’t do anything in it, with their friends so close. And none of their other friends seem to worry or even think about it, so Tori pushes it out of her mind as well.  
They take up a spot close to the woods on the camp site. They have a fireplace of their own with four logs around it to sit on and the lake in which swimming is allowed is on the other side of the camp site.  
Only a few others are here this weekend. There is a small family who isn’t set up far from them. And then there is a big tent closer to the lake.  
Ten minutes by foot through the woods is another camp site where there is a hut with toilets, showers and a restaurant. A much smaller hut is of course on their site which has also toilets in it.  
But they have already walked to the bigger hut to check it out before they now set up the tents.  
“We really have luck with the weather,” Robbie notices when they are done, looking up to the sky.  
The weather report has been kind of different each day and they haven’t known how it would actually be, if they could ever stand the whole weekend. None of them want to camp very much if it would rain the whole time.  
Andre warns: “Don’t jinx it.” He has always said that whenever the report for the weekend has looked sunny and one of the friends has talked about it in relieve.  
“Aw, I hope it stays this warm,” Cat says and excitedly claps her hands. “Then we can go swim in the lake tomorrow.”  
They have agreed beforehand they wouldn’t go swim that evening anymore. It is already late, have they spent their day in school and only after have driven their way up here. Jade has already said that she doesn’t understand why they wouldn’t just drive Saturday morning then – or never.  
Tori looks up to the sky as well. “I wish it was darker already, so we had a good reason to light the fire.”  
That is what she loves most about the camping: the fire and everything that goes with it.  
“I also want the fire,” Cat agrees promptly. “I want to eat marshmallows. Let’s light it.”  
“We need fire wood first,” Beck reminds her and Cat asks happily: “Where do we get it?”  
“Well, how about us guys go get it?” Andre suggests. “I bet until we come back and get the fire started it’s already a little darker and colder anyway.”  
“Sure,” Beck agrees and Robbie nods as well.  
He doesn’t need to put Rex away as he goes with Andre and Beck in the woods – he hasn’t brought him or at least that’s what he claims. Tori isn’t sure if Rex isn’t in Robbie’s bag for emergencies.  
Jade and Beck share a short kiss, then the boys are gone. Tori and Cat sit down on one the logs first. Jade sits on the one to Cat’s side.  
“Ugh. I hate camping,” she says.  
“Why?” Cat innocently asks.  
“Because it’s disgusting. Sleeping on the floor, eating food made over the fire. Are we in the 21st century or what?”  
“You know, if you would at least try to enjoy it, I bet you would,” Tori tells her.  
They are truly friends by now but they still bicker from time to time and Jade often acts like Tori is the biggest idiot – not like she treats any of her other friends much better.  
But they do get along and Tori understands Jade better now. Understands better what she says seriously and which is a joke even if she says it like it isn’t.  
And since they have gotten back together, she has understood Jade and Beck’s relationship much better as well. Although there still is much she isn’t able to see at all. Much about both of them themselves, but primarily about them in their relationship.  
This weekend, she realizes some things about them she hasn’t before. The first one is coming over right now.  
“Pretty girls.”  
All three of them look up and there are five boys, probably a little older than them, standing in front of them. From the direction they approached it’s seems like they sleep in the big tent closest to the lake.  
“What are three pretty girls like you are doing alone in the woods?” one of them asks and another already sits down right next to Jade, way too far in her comfort zone, nearly touching her leg with his.  
Another squeezes in between Cat and Tori while the last three just step closer.  
“We are not alone here,” Tori says and now, another guy plants himself on her other side.  
He winks: “Brought some more pretty friends?”  
Cat giggles as if the boy has called Robbie, Andre and Beck pretty.  
“You are a happy one, huh?” the guy in between her and Tori asks her.  
The one next to Jade is about to put his arm around Jade put she promptly hits him in his side with her elbow.  
He makes a noise full of hurt and holds his side. However, he doesn’t stand up or anything but stays right with her. The other guys don’t seem intimidated as well. One instead smiles: “And a wild one.”  
“What kind are you?” the one next to Tori asks.  
“Remind you of something?” Jade suddenly asks, looking directly at Tori.  
She needs a moment but then she remembers their forced date for Sikowitz’ play and the two boys there that wouldn’t leave them alone – and actually made them bond in the end through singing a song.  
“Oh, yes, it does,” she says and the guy next to Jade seems to see that as another opening: “Do we remind you of your dreams?”  
Even Cat rolls her eyes.  
“So, where are your friends?” one of the guys asks.  
It’s Jade who answers, putting emphasis on the first words and looking pointedly the first and only time at the boy next to her while she does so: “My boyfriend and the others are collecting fire wood.”  
“Oh, if you want you can get over to our tent,” one of the boys still standing says. “We have enough wood there.”  
He and the other high-five while the others jeer. Tori clearly hears Jade making a disgusted noise.  
“We’ll rather stay here,” Tori says and the boy between her and Cat puts his arm now around Cat: “Then, so will we.”  
Tori sees the way, Jade glares at that boy and is sure that it doesn’t take much anymore to push her over the edge. And then, someone could very well be killed.  
And Tori herself has more than enough. These boys are disgusting.  
“You should go.”  
The boy next to her shoves her lightly. “Come on.”  
“You really should go.” That’s Andre’s voice. The three boys are finally back and let their gathered wood fall in the fire pit.  
Tori is relieved. It’s not like you need a man or anything but some guys just understand the prompt to go much better when another guy tells them. That fact is just as disgusting as the boys themselves.  
But another thing catches Tori’s attention: Beck. He has narrowed his eyes on the guy sitting right next to Jade and while one of the others tells Andre, Robbie and Beck to ‘chill’, Beck finally looks at Jade, goes up to her and offers her his hand. She takes it without hesitation and he pulls her up and has drawn her into a very deep kiss in the same move.  
Tori is sure that the others have been talking to each other just now but everyone goes silent and watches.  
This is a much more passionate kiss than they have ever shared in school, even right after they have gotten back together that one time, and Tori sometimes thinks even those are far too much and private for public. This is really inappropriate.  
They finally break apart again and Andre tells the others to go another time while Beck grabs Jade’s hand again, leads her over to the log opposite of the one, Tori sits on, and both of them sit down there.  
She lies her head on his shoulder and he puts his arm around her and looks over to the other guy with eyes that for Tori just convey one message: ‘See? She is mine.’  
Tori has never seen this before and all of it distracts her so much that she doesn’t hear the next few words that are exchanged, until the guy that had hit on Jade, stands up. “Well, then we will go. We just wanted to be nice.”  
“Yeah, nobody needs that kind of nice,” Andre says while all five of them finally go away.  
“Gosh. What’s up with those guys?” Robbie says while he sits down on one of the logs.  
Cat answers him something about how there are always idiotic boys everywhere and how she doesn’t understand it, but Tori is still a little distracted.  
She watches as Beck still looks after the strangers and it’s only when Jade pulls him into another kiss that he seems to forget about them and finally loosens his grip around her that has been extremely tight before, as Tori realizes now.  
Huh, interesing. Who would have known? Is Beck kind of possessive of Jade as well?  
It doesn’t just feel like him protecting her or anything. He could have just told them to go away like Andre did. But instead he chose to pull Jade to him and kiss her like that in front of that guy, just because he could.  
Tori has seen Jade’s jealousy time and time again but Beck not being happy with any guy around Jade? Well... Actually, she isn’t sure if she has ever seen a situation close to this. After all, in school she scares every guy off, so that only very few even speak to her and noone would ever dare touching her.  
But, obviously, Beck also hates it if anyone gets too close to her.


	2. Jade's consideration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to this - as announced - shorter chapter.  
> Thank you for the kudos and again for that comment.  
> Hope you like this chapter, too. :)

In Tori’s opinion, the sound of fire crackling is one of the most beautiful sounds on earth. Well... Always behind music of course.  
It has gotten much darker by now but the fire lights all their faces.  
They all have long sticks in their hands, holding and eating marshmallows.  
Tori feels like she has eaten enough for a while now but she just can’t stop. She knows that the others feel the same.  
While they are eating, they play a little game. They ask questions, like what’s your favorite food, and then go around and everyone has to answer.  
They have all known each other for quite a while now, even Tori is friends with them for over two years now. But they still do discover new things of each other as they answer. And they laugh a lot at some of the things that are said.  
Jade of course claims it’s stupid but she does answer as well each time.  
Now it’s Tori’s turn again to ask a question. “What about...” She has to think about it. They have been through quite a lot already. Soon enough nobody will have a question anymore. But she is determined to not let it stop on her. And then she has the idea: “Your favorite sport?”  
They haven’t talked about sport at all. They have all said their favorite musician, favorite music group, favorite song to sing to, to listen to and to dance to and favorite instrument but sport is probably the furthest from all their minds.  
Yes, some of them may do sport to keep them fit but art is so much more important in each their lives.  
“Favorite sport to do or to watch?” Andre asks.  
“Doesn’t matter,” Tori decides after she has thought about it for a second. “Pick the one you would over all call your favorite.”  
The round always goes counterclockwise.  
Tori sits together on a log with Andre and Robbie, right between them. They barely fit together. The logs are small as is their fireplace but it’s enough.  
On the log to Robbie’s side sits Cat, then Jade, then Beck. Tori notices that while there is no room left on her log, there might even fit a fourth on theirs as Jade practically sits in Beck’s lap and also lets Cat sit surprinsingly close today.  
Whatever... Robbie is the first who has to answer: “Ping-pong.”  
Jade snorts. “Nerd.”  
Robbie acts like he hasn’t noticed the insult. “I still think we should have had that ping-pong team for real.”  
“Yeah, because everyone except you and possibly Jade were so good in it,” Beck says.  
“And Tori,” Andre adds which makes Tori feel good. It always feels good to have your abilities acknowledged. And after all, she had beat every one of them.  
“And Tori,” Beck nods. “But she came in later and there probably wouldn’t have been a ping-pong team left after the defeats we would have suffered through.”  
“That’s true,” Andre agrees with a grin and Tori turns to Cat: “Well... How about you, Cat? Favorite sport.”  
Cat looks as if she has desperately waited for her turn – she looks like that each round: “I’ve seen this video where they’ve done a running competition, they didn’t run though but were in these gigantic balls instead and had to roll down a slope. That looks like fun.”  
Tori furls her eyebrows. She isn’t sure what video Cat has watched, if it hasn’t just been a dream, or if it counts as a sport if it is for real. But she won’t question it.  
The others seem to decide the same thing although everyone looks at her a little confused.  
Jade has raised her eyebrows at Cat but answers the question: “I still think this is dumb...”  
“We know,” Tori cuts through with rolling eyes and gets a glare from Jade before she slowly continues as if nobody has interrupted her: “But my favorite sport is hockey.”  
“Wait,” Tori directly says. “For real?”  
Jade narrows her eyes. “Yes. Why?”  
“I...” Tori starts, confused, but lamely ends: “I just never knew.”  
“Wow, surprise,” Jade states sarcastically. “You don’t know everything about me.”  
Beck gently pulls her even closer which seems impossible with how close they are already sitting, and explains: “I got her into it shortly after we started dating. I watched a game with her I just had to watch as a true Canadian and she realized that hockey is even more brutal than football and there is a lot more blood, so she watched some more and became a fan.”  
“I like seeing people get hurt.”  
Tori feels Robbie shiver next to her and she gets it. The way she said that and looked over to them with the fact they are in the woods without many witnesses and the way the fire lights her face... It came out pretty creepy and scary.  
Tori sees Jade’s eyes light up for a second as if she had seen that she successfully scared them.  
Beck smiles and gives her a kiss on the temple, before he finally answers the question himself: “I will go with drag racing.”  
“Ugh,” Jade makes but he obviously doesn’t mind.  
Andre gives his answer next and Tori also replies herself but she has to say she is still hung up on that hockey thing.  
The thing is... Her mind directly wandered to Moose because he’s the reason she has ever watched a game which she didn’t understand and found stupid.  
But she pretended back then that she was totally into hockey, so that Moose would be interested in her.  
If Jade was really into hockey, why didn’t she use it?  
They had that little competition going on after all. With her love for The Scissoring and her love for hockey, she could have probably easily won.  
Well... If a boy was to be won. Moose didn’t like any of them, so...  
But maybe he would have liked Jade after all if he had known that. Even if she was still crazy and not Canadian...  
She did win in the end. Tori knows she made out with Moose as the only one of them. But she is pretty sure she didn’t use hockey even then, although she tried to trump Cat and espeically her, Tori, another time.  
But Tori looks at Jade and Beck, sitting there, Beck with his arm around Jade, Jade one of her legs over one of Beck’s. Beck looking at Jade as she answers the question, Robbie has posed, about their favorite time of day, and laughing lightly as she gives creepy reasons, for why her answer is ‘night’.  
She understands, though she never would have thought that of Jade. Especially after Jade made out with Moose although he was a good friend of Beck’s.  
But while both of them and Cat were competing over that other boy and while Jade definitely wanted to win, she still hadn’t felt like using hockey to do it. Because Beck is the one who introduced her to that.  
Yes, she now is a bigger fan of that sport than Beck is and doesn’t need him to watch the games but it’s still so deeply connected to him and their relationship.  
And they were broken up quite a while when Moose came along, so Jade had no problem making out with him although she had to know Beck would find out about it.  
But Tori understands that Jade didn’t use her love for hockey because of Beck, out of respect for him and their relationship, with regards to their shared history.  
And Tori has thought that only Beck had cared after their break up. Obviously she has been wrong.


	3. Beck's sleepiness

They haven’t stayed up all that long. They had all been up early for school and therefore had gone into their tents fairly early as well.  
Before they agreed to be up at 9am again, eat breakfast they have brought and then probably go swimming together if the weather would still look good enough for it.  
Tori and Cat are both up half an hour early to shower before breakfast. The wash rooms in the close-by hut are luckily surprisingly clean.  
Andre and Robbie have also washed themselves already when all four of them set up what they brought to eat.  
They have some finger food, some sandwiches and Cat also already pulls the sweets out and claims you could and should always eat some.  
They also gleefully watch that the guys that were set up close to the lake, woke up just as early and pack up now and leave. Possibly, they have spent the week here though neither Tori nor the others have any idea which school or college they could go to where they actually would have had a break. But in the end, they are only happy that at least they really can go swimming and won’t be annoyed by them.  
They talk about that while setting up and it’s Tori who looks at Beck’s and Jade’s tent after some time and slowly asks: “They are still sleeping?”  
Maybe, they have already gotten up and she missed it. Maybe, they are in the hut getting ready. But she is pretty sure they aren’t and she hasn’t heard a noise yet out of the tent. Except maybe the alarm over half an hour ago when it still was 9am.  
“They are,” Andre says with a look to the tent himself and amused, he adds: “I still think it’s funny that Beck only is a heavy sleeper when he is with Jade.”  
Tori furls her eyebrows. “What?”  
“Don’t you know?” Robbie asks and she hasn’t heard this before at all, so she shakes her head.  
Andre explains: “Beck is usually a pretty light sleeper. That’s my experience at least for the times I stayed over at his place or he was at mine or something.”  
Robbie nods as if to show that that’s his experience as well.  
Cat smiles happily: “He never is with Jade.”  
“I didn’t know that until we were in Yerba,” Andre says. “After you were arrested, we all stayed in one room and talked about our possibilities and worries and just fell asleep there in the early morning hours.”  
“We slept as well as we could,” Robbie adds with a shiver. “It was still horrifying.”  
Andre nods at that before he goes on further with his explanation: “But Beck and Jade slept like babies, Jade sprawled out on top of him and everything.”  
“Really?” Tori asks and Andre nods again: “Really. I first thought Beck was just so exhausted and that’s why it took so long to wake him up but actually...”  
He makes a gesture to Cat who giggles and takes over: “I’ve seen Beck sleep when he’s around Jade before that. Sometimes, we stay over at Jade’s at the same time. I’ve never known he could be a light sleeper. He is like a stone, at least until she is up and under the shower. Then he wakes up quickly.”  
“I didn’t know that,” Tori honestly says and how could she?  
Andre shrugs with a smile: “Well... The more comfortable you feel, I guess...”  
And Tori thinks that’s incredible. She doesn’t think, being a heavy or light sleeper has normally anything to do with how comfortable or safe you feel somewhere but it sounds like that’s true for Beck. Does Jade’s mere presence let him feel so safe that he could sleep through everything like she can?  
“I’ll go wake them up,” Cat decides after she has put her last sweet on their table they have luckily brought and now put up over the fire pit and loaded with their food.  
She opens the tent and scrawls into it.  
“Come on, wake up,” Tori clearly hears her voice, even too loud outside. “Or you won’t get any breakfast. Come on, come on.”  
Tori hears a groan from Beck and Jade yelling: “Cat! Shut up and get out!”  
Cat comes out giggling. “They are awake.”  
“No kidding,” Andre says and sits down on one of the logs.  
Robbie sits down next to him and Cat and Tori take one of the other logs.  
They already start eating what they have brought while Beck and Jade still don’t come out. It takes several more minutes but when they do get out, Tori guesses they both made their hair at least a little in those minutes as they don’t look as if they’ve just fallen out of bed.  
But they are both still in something that’s probably their pajamas. Jade pulls a jacket over a top, then she falls down on a seperate log, claiming: “It’s way too early.”  
“We agreed on 9am,” Tori reasons.  
“We agreed on 9am,” Jade mimics her with that awful voice she always uses, rolling her eyes and grabbing a sandwich.  
Beck, who has sat down next to her, puts an arm around her and gives her a kiss on her temple, smiling.  
Tori has to surpress a smile of her own as she bites in her own sandwich.  
Well... Maybe, she doesn’t know them after all.  
Yes, she knows Beck, he is one of best friends, together with Andre. And she knows Jade way better by now than she once had.  
But their relationship... She didn’t understand that one for a long time, didn’t understand why they stayed together despite their fighting, despite Jade’s extreme jealousy, despite everything. After they have gotten back together after being apart for a few months, things have been a little different between them but not really. But she has come to the understanding with herself that that’s just love. There is nothing to understand about it. It just somehow works or it doesn’t.  
She now realizes that she doesn’t know anything about them as a couple, even after all those years close by. But she also has never tried to know more about their dynamic. She always has thought it’s quite obvious. But what does she know?  
Now, she suddenly learns that Beck is at least slightly possessive as well, that Jade has been considerate in her own way during the break up after all and that Beck apparently feels so safe around Jade that he can sleep through everything with her by his side, just like she normally does.  
Who knows what else she will find out? Maybe, it’s time to keep more of an eye on them, to watch them a little and to get to know more about the relationship they actually have.


	4. Jade's childishness

They have a long breakfast and afterwards put the rest of their food back in the car to not attract wild animals.  
Jade and Beck finally go shower and dress themselves while the others brush their teeth one by one.  
They all meet up again around the fireplace and talk for another while before they finally deem it warm enough to go into the lake.  
They each change in their tents, before Robbie asks: “What are we doing with our stuff?”  
It’s the first time since they set up that they will be all away from their tents at the same time.  
Beck shrugs. “There isn’t anything important in the tents, is there?”  
Nothing worth stealing. Just some clothes and sleeping bags. They all left their money in the car.  
Andre looks over to it. “The instrument are still in there, yeah? And it’s locked?”  
Beck nods.  
They of course have brought instruments and want to put in a jam session later. They are all musicians after all.  
Robbie has brought his guitar, Andre a keyboard. They haven’t gotten them out of the car yet.  
Everyone still seems to think for a minute if there is something else worth stealing but everyone decides there isn’t.  
“Well, everything is alright then,” Tori decides and then checks with the others: “Everyone has everything with them they need?”  
They have, pretty much only need their towels and the car key which is in Beck’s hand and will be stashed under his towel later when they are all in the lake.  
Everyone nods and together they walk over to the lake.  
While they do so, Beck looks to the spot where the other boys were set up earlier.”Where are those guys anyway?”  
“Oh, they left already,” Andre answers and Tori of course has to add, more in a teasing way: “You would have seen if you woke up on time.”  
She notices Jade rolling her eyes but Beck just smiles: “Yeah. Well...”  
“I’m glad they left,” Cat chips in.  
“We all are,” Tori says and the others nod.  
Tori doesn’t know how else they could have gone swimming. They probably would have hung around and tried to hit on them some more. Maybe, the guys would have acted as their boyfriends, not just Beck as Jade’s which he was, but also Robbie as Cat’s and Andre as Tori’s. After all, there is definitely something going on with Robbie and Cat and they do like each other a lot – and Robbie and Andre probably both would have wanted to help them.  
But Tori doesn’t know if that would have helped much. Yes, they did go away yesterday but Tori has some experience with guys like that.  
However, they are gone now and they can be totally relaxed.  
The little family is also in the lake, and a few other people are on different sides, closing in on the lake from other camp sites. The lake is big enough and they put their towels down in a completely deserted spot and slowly wade into the water.  
“It’s so cold,” Cat screams but keeps going.  
It really is cold but also refreshing and Tori knows, it won’t feel all that cold anymore as soon as they’ve been completely in. It still takes some time to overcome the coldness to even get that far.  
When Tori stands waist-deep in the water, she just goes for it. She takes in a deep breath and plunges in.  
“You’re crazy,” Robbie claims when she emerges again but Andre copies her promptly. Beck goes in a little deeper before he does as well.  
Cat and Robbie take a little more time though Cat is extremely excited. Jade just goes in and starts swimming, doesn’t dive her head under however. But she also doesn’t show that it is cold at all. Figures. It was either that or her complaining about the coldness loudly and somehow blaming every one of them for it. Tori is glad she chose this route.  
They all swim around for a while and Robbie, Cat, Andre and Tori just start talking about how they haven’t brought a ball or anything and if they could improvise or ask some of the other campers for theirs when Tori turns around to look for Beck and Jade who haven’t joined the discussion.  
Jade seems about to get to them to also make a suggestion but in that moment, Beck approaches and with one move punches the water in front of her so hard, it goes all over her.  
Tori is sure she will get angry and tell Beck off for that. She does scream Beck’s name. But there is actually a big grin on her face as she does, and suddenly, she tackles him, puts her hands on his head and pushes him under water.  
He doesn’t fight her much and lets it happen instead but as soon as he is fully immersed, she screams again and is pulled under water as well. Obviously, he has grabbed her and for a few seconds, Tori can only see broken water, then they both get out again, pretty much holding each other. They breath in, push their hair back and both laugh in a way that makes Tori automatically smile.  
Then, Beck picks Jade up like a bride and rocks her in his arms in a way that makes her head go back into the water time and time again, while he dances around with her.  
She holds onto him and pushes herself away from him at the same time somehow, and when she finally is able to push him away, so that he has to let her go, she claims: “I hate you.”  
She forms her laugh into a pout but he keeps laughing and pulls her close again and they share a kiss.  
“Tori?”  
Tori turns around and sees Andre watching her. “Uhm... What?”  
“I just said: Looks like they’ve found us a ball. But you seemed like you didn’t even hear me.”  
“I was just distracted there for a second,” Tori claims and well... it’s true. It wasn’t just for a second but she was distracted enough to not notice Cat and Robbie actually going to the family which is here with them and has a beach ball lying by the side. She hasn’t even heard them decide to do it. But they now come back with big grins and the beach ball in their hands. Apparently, the family has lent it to them.  
But it’s natural for her to get distracted. It’s rare to see Jade like this. To see her so... child-like. Tori actually never has seen her like this in person.  
She realizes that Jade only becomes a child around Beck. She knows Jade wouldn’t be close to this if it was just the girls and they were playing around. Maybe she would also agree to a water fight or something, but she wouldn’t laugh like this, wouldn’t show her absolute enjoyment so openly, wouldn’t pout like that because of something they had done.  
Tori remembers she has noticed that a little bit before, that she has just never fully appreciated it. There is that video though on TheSlap where Beck and Jade claim to give relationship advice. It’s a few years old now but Tori has watched it back then and remembers how Beck has given Jade noogies and how extremely young Jade had looked then, how child-like. And how much Beck had enjoyed that.  
Apparently, that’s another thing in their relationship. Beck can actually make Jade behave like a child playing around. It’s quite cute if Tori thinks about it.


	5. Their future

They stay in the water for a long time, play with the ball and actually have a full on water fight somewhere in between before clouds start to darken the sky and it’s suddenly gets way colder.  
“I bet it’s late enough to eat anyway,” Robbie says as they dry themselves.  
“I could eat,” Andre nods and Tori asks: “Will we go to the hut and eat there?”  
They have thought about that before coming here as well, have pretty much agreed on that. There is still food left but they also have a lot of more time and one big, warm meal sounds great, especially after raving through the water the whole morning.  
Tori still wants to make sure but the others want to eat their as well. They just all want to change before, so they first return to their tents and get all inside.  
“Too bad about the weather,” Tori says as she gets out again, back in warm clothes.  
Robbie and Andre look for their wallets in their car.  
“Right?” Robbie asks and puts a little money in one of his pockets. “It looks like it’s about to rain.”  
“Let’s just hope it won’t rain the rest of the day and over night. Then we will have a problem,” Andre says and Tori shrugs: “If it’s really bad, we could all sleep in the car.”  
It wouldn’t be ideal and nobody could actually lie down with all of them in there but it would probably beat getting all wet and cold outside.  
Robbie still doesn’t seem satisfied with the solution but doesn’t say anything more about it because that’s when Cat also comes out of the tent, smiling brightly: “Ready! We can go.”  
“We still have to wait for Beck and Jade,” Tori reminds her while she catches her own money out of the car.  
Andre and Robbie look around confused.  
“They are already changed,” Robbie says and Andre nods: “They were just here.”  
And otherwise, the car also wouldn’t be open. After all, Beck has had the car key the whole time. That’s now lying on top of the car.  
“Maybe, they’ve forgotten something at the lake,” Cat suggests, squinting in the direction.  
Robbie sighs. “I’ll go look.”  
He goes on and Cat goes over to the tent to look if they for some reason have gone back in.  
But they left the car key. Tori can’t imagine them not doing that on purpose; possibly they’ve gotten their own money out and have already gone on ahead to the hut, expecting them to lock the car again and follow them. Tori wouldn’t understand why they wouldn’t tell Andre and Robbie when they were around but... whatever... As long as they haven’t disappeared somewhere to make out or possibly go further... Tori wouldn’t know how to handle catching them in that act anywhere. And they do have to look for them because something bad also very well could have happened.  
“I’ll go look if they’ve gone on ahead,” she therefore says to Andre who nods to let her know he has heard.  
She doesn’t have to take many steps into the woods when she already sees them.  
Jade is leaning with her back against one of the nearest trees next to the path. Beck is standing right in front of her, extremely close. One of her hands is in his neck, he has one of his put against the tree to support himself, while he leans into her.  
So, they did go away to make out without the others around.  
Tori slightly rolls her eyes and wants to draw attention to herself – until now they haven’t noticed that someone is standing only a few feets away from them.  
But then she hears Beck’s voice: “We should definitely take our kids camping one day.”  
And... Yes, she is curious. After she has learned a little more about their relationship since yesterday evening, she is interested in what else she doesn’t know or realize about them. And she has never ever heard them talk while they thought they were alone. Of course, she also shouldn’t eavesdrop but they have to know that someone can easily come by and hear them. And it isn’t like she’s hiding or something.  
“You can take them on your own,” Jade answers, pulls him a little closer and they share a kiss.  
Beck smiles. “Oh, come on. You’re having fun.”  
“Ugh,” Jade just makes and even Tori knows that that is a pretty clear Yes in this case.  
Beck watches Jade closely as he suggests, with an innocent voice: “Maybe, we’ll get married on a camp site like this.”  
“Yeah, now you’ve done it,” Jade instantly says. “Just for that joke, I won’t marry you anymore.”  
“Who said it was a joke?” Beck replies and Tori is sure to see Jade roll her eyes, but then, they share another kiss.  
And Tori thinks about what Jade has just said. She claimed she won’t get married to him anymore. Anymore. As in: Of course they will marry each other. And that’s obvious for both of them.  
Tori nearly takes a step back. She has never thought about that. And yeah, maybe she also always thinks a little about a possible marriage when she dates a new guy, imagines how it would be if it would work out but that hasn’t ever be serious. And she has never ever talked to a guy about that. She is only 18 after all. And possibly never has dated a boy long enough.  
There of course also was this one boy who actually talked about marriage but that creeped her out more than anything else. They just dated for three weeks until he started with that. But he also claimed he loved Tori after their very first date which she had considered cute back then.  
And she has joked a little with guys like Steven about a possible future together, about children.  
This is different and Tori knows it.  
Their lips have broken apart again and Beck teases with a grin: “I take that just as seriously as the ten kids we will have.”  
Jade snorts lightly. “If you give birth to them, you can have that many.”  
“But just imagine ten little Becks and Jades,” he goes on, obviously still teasing.  
Jade raises her eyebrows. “I think three annoying little Becks at best, added to you, will be enough.”  
Beck smiles and steals Jade another kiss. “Maybe, all of them will be little Jades.”  
And Tori has no idea how Jade does it but somehow she sounds extremely confident and yet ironic at the same time: “Then we would be in luck.” It’s as if Jade is sure both of them know that three kids like her wouldn’t be luck at all – and Tori can’t argue with her there – but like she also will forever pretend that it would be.  
Beck, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to think that little Jades would be bad at all, instead he says with an absolute sincere voice: “We would be in luck.”  
Tori sees the pure smile in Jade’s face that’s so rare, before they kiss again.  
And as Tori stands there, watching them, she realizes that these two actually plan their future together. She remembers the last few weeks when all of them have talked about their careers and college and when Jade also mentioned something about Broadway and the look she and Beck shared and... She comprehends that these two do talk about this stuff because they want to stay together after school, possibly forever.  
And they want to make it work. They want to marry each other and have children together, maybe even three apparently. It definitely sounded like they have talked about this before, and Jade didn’t just give some random number when she talked about the ‘three little Becks at best’.  
Of course, Tori has known that they love each other. But she has to be honest: She has never thought about them planning their future, talking about it, trying to fit their dreams together.  
She only now understands that they do.


	6. Their dancing

The restaurant is fine. The food isn’t all that amazing but the service personal is awesome and nice. Although there is of course a young woman who has to flirt with Beck a bit which makes Jade angry which makes the next few minutes of the conversation slightly uncomfortable.  
Otherwise, lunch is great. They even are allowed to stay put for a while after they finished eating , before they notice they can long go.  
Tori is sure to have heard rain outside but it seems like only a few drops have come down and most of the clouds are already drawing away again.  
“Maybe, we do have luck with the weather after all,“ Robbie says but Tori warns as Andre has done so often before and which makes him smile now: “Don’t jinx it.“  
They sit down on the logs for a while after being back and for a second there’s silence, before Andre looks at all of them: “Jam session?”  
“Yes,” Cat instantly screams out and Robbie claps his hands: “Let’s do it.”  
He gets his guitar out of the car, Andre his keyboard, before Andre sits down left to Tori again, Robbie back on the log with Cat to their left. Beck and Jade share a log to Tori’s right, Beck of course sitting next to Tori, not Jade. She leans already so far into Beck again however that she is nearly just as close to her than Beck is.  
Making music is always fun but making music here, together, the six of them, these friends, out in nature... Tori knows that this will forever be one of her favorite memories while it’s happening.  
They sing all kind of songs, randomly standing up in between and dancing around, then just singing again.  
Robbie and Andre are the best at these instruments, especially at improvising. Andre moreso than Robbie. But the instruments still go round. At one point Cat asks Jade to play one of her favorite tunes on the keyboard while she would sing to it, and Jade gives in.  
But the best part of making music with other musicians truly is improvising around a certain melody (next to them making up random and often extremely silly songs together). Just one of them starting to sing a song they liked forever and the others soon joining in, with the instruments but mainly with their voices, singing beautiful harmonies and making the song even better.  
However, you first have to think of a song at all. Soon, all the ones Tori loves most are already done. Cat starts scrolling on her phone through her music while Andre plays something on the keyboard absent-mindedly and the others just listen.  
Tori wants to ask him if it’s a new song he is writing this very moment, about this great experience, when Cat puts on Quimbara by Celia Cruz on her phone, excitedly saying: “I love this song. Let’s sing that.”  
She jumps up on her feet and starts moving to the music while singing the first few words together with her phone.  
Robbie laughs: “I don’t know what to play for that.”  
“Then just dance,” Cat says, pulling him up on his feet.  
And Tori also barely knows the lyrics, for the chorus at best. But she also loves dancing and this is a good song, so she stands up as well and starts to move.  
Andre promptly puts his keyboard down and also starts moving, Beck and Jade of course join in.  
Jade and Andre do know a few words, just like Cat who sings the whole way through.  
The song is only about one minute in and Tori is only looking over to Jade because she does do a perfect harmony to Cat’s and Celia Cruz’ “Ee Mama”’s.  
That’s the exact moment, Beck suddenly grabs Jade and pulls her close to him.  
For a moment, Tori forgets to move herself as she watches them actually doing a salsa right there, together.  
It’s seductive and both have only eyes for each other. Also, not one of them misses a step at any point, are completely on the music and seem to understand perfectly what the other one is doing or wants to do with their next step while they spin each other around, push each other away and pull back together.  
Cat’s voice is full of happy giggling as she keeps on singing and all the other’s join into the “Quimbara”s while they do dance themselves but also watch Beck and Jade.  
When the song is finished and Beck and Jade stop in a perfect and very close position, they all clap.  
Jade and Back seem a little out of breath, but both smile in a way Tori rarely sees and share a kiss before they finally look at the others.  
“That was beautiful,” Cat says as she makes sure, the next song won’t start, and all of them sit down again.  
“I never knew you could dance that well,” Tori admits although she realizes it’s stupid. She has known that they took a salsa class in school. Of course they would know how to dance it. And they are both musicians, know how to keep in time.  
She also does know that they can both generally dance. They’ve done musicals together after all. But she has never seen them do any kind of couple dancing other than that typical teenager stuff at school events – at best. Sometimes, they don’t dance there together at all.  
Which is weird if they can do this. Tori has to ask: “Why don’t you ever dance like that at school events?”  
Beck’s answer is quite simple and in Tori’s opinion just as beautiful: “Because it belongs to us.”  
Tori almost makes a noise in awe which would annoy Jade but at that moment she already says: “Also, our school has better dancers than us. It’s not like we could impress anyone with it.” Which wouldn’t be the reason for her to do it anyway, Tori knows. But it probably feels to her like singing as if she is on stage while being in the audience.  
“Well... Except you,” Jade adds, looking at Tori with raised eyebrows as if to judge her for thinking she and Beck could dance really well.  
If there is one person to not be able to take a compliment...  
“Maybe your footwork isn’t as good as that from others,” Cat chips in, still looking all happy. “But passion is more important and you have lots of that for each other.”  
That does earn her an honest smile from Jade while Beck puts an arm around her, smiling as well.  
“What else do you dance?” Tori asks meanwhile, truly interested.  
She doesn’t remember any other dance classes they took but there have to have been more. Maybe they do know other dances as well?  
“All kind of styles, like waltz, swing, tango...” Beck answers with a shrug.  
Jade nods. “Salsa is the most fun though. That was a good class.”  
She turns to Beck with a smile and he smiles right back, whispering “Yes, it was” before they share a sweet kiss.  
“We should have taken that instead of the ballet class,” Robbie tells Andre who nods: “Yeah. Weren’t there crazy many girls in that class?”  
“I wonder why,” Jade says dryly.  
Tori knows what Jade assumes and has to guess she’s right. They probably saw that Beck signed up and signed up for it just because of him. But as everyone survived, Tori assumes, they were allowed to choose their own partner, and the teacher didn’t just make pairs or changed it up every now and then. Tori is sure Jade would have killed them otherwise.  
Andre looks at her sheepishly and Beck gives her a short kiss on the temple before he asks: “So, what else do we want to sing?”


	7. Their acting

They have stopped singing for a while but then have picked it up again. It’s just too tempting with all of them there and being able to sing quite well – and all of them having fun doing so.  
But they also reminisce. As they start to sing all the songs from the musicals and shows they’ve done, they also talk about them, about what they loved and hated about it, what possibly happened without all of them there.  
Tori can’t believe what she missed going on behind the scenes from time to time. But also what she missed while she didn’t attend Hollywood Arts yet. She loves the songs the others sing from that period of time.  
But now, they’ve gotten to Uptown, Downtown where Tori – as the lead of the whole play – also had the lead on many of the songs.  
The others join in though, whenever they can, and they just finished one of the fun songs when Andre asks laughing: “How long did it take you guys to learn the choreograhy to that song again?”  
He of course isn’t talking to Cat who hasn’t been in that musical at all but also has to laugh at that.  
Tori defends herself and the others: “Well, that was a tough one. It’s easy for you to talk.”  
Though everyone knows that some of the music has been tricky too but Andre has mastered it easily.  
Andre shrugs with a grin and doesn’t say anything about how tough the music was. And of course Tori is right that at least he didn’t have to learn the choreography.  
That’s when Jade speaks up: “I’m still angry that Carson did that musical. It could’ve been much better with a better director.”  
Jade absolutely hates that teacher. Well, she hates most teachers and probably most people.  
“Sophia Michelle did like what we did with it though,” Andre reasons and Tori has to smile because of the memories: “But that was an accident.”  
“And since that he considers it good luck to not have any understudies,” Jade says with a roll of her eyes. “What an idiot.”  
And of course, that’s a little stupid. Yes, it worked out just fine with Uptown, Downtown but it very well could have happened that nobody would have liked Tori with that makeup on. Not to mention that someone could get sick any time and the show just couldn’t happen then.  
“I like him,” Cat states happily and that earns her another eye roll by Jade.  
Robbie shortly looks at her too, before he confesses: “To be honest: I also think he is awful at directing. How often did he let us do that one scene again without being able to tell us what we need to change?”  
He directs that question to Jade, who answers: “Ugh. I don’t know.” But she obvisouly does know what Robbie is talking about and is annoyed by the mere memory.  
Tori also remembers but Cat is already starting to talk about other teachers who have questionable ways of teaching them art.  
Tori doesn’t listen to her though, because he sees how Beck looks at Jade and she sits close enough to hear him say in a way that sounds familiar: “It’s ok that you don’t know.”  
Jade turns to him, her expression changing on the spot, turning somewhat lost and afraid. “But you deserve an answer.”  
“I can wait,” Beck answers softly. “For you I would wait a thousand years.”  
And of course, Tori remembers by now. These are lines out of the play though both do them a little different now.  
She shortly looks over to the others who are in a conversation about their teachers. It’s not that unusual that they are with the whole group but two or even three conversations are going on at the same time. Usually, it’s only for a couple of minutes at best and then their conversations morph into one again. It happens from time to time. That’s probably just how talking works in a group of six.  
“But that’s so many,” she hears Jade say, slightly taken aback.  
She looks back to see Beck getting closer to Jade, deeply looking into her eyes like he wants to make sure she knows he’s saying the truth as he replies with the next line: “I know I’m poor. I know I don’t have much to offer but... I do love you.”  
“Cause I’m beautiful?”  
“I don’t love you because you’re beautiful. You’re beautiful because I love you.”  
For a moment they just look at each other and Tori knows that that’s the point where the music would come in for the next song, instead they both break into a small smile before their lips meet.  
Tori waits until they break apart again and seem to want to join back into the others’ conversation, then: “That’s out of the play.”  
Beck smiles and luckily doesn’t appear to be angry or embarrassed that Tori listened to them. “It is.”  
“Those were my lines,” Tori says, looking at Jade. She knows that Jade has suggested back then that she could be the lead after Tori hadn’t been able to get the makeup off in time. She always believed she just suggested that because she was a little bitter that she hadn’t been cast as the lead but Tori instead. She never thought that Jade would have been able to do it because she would have known the lines – at least some of them obvisouly.  
“Those were my lines,” Jade mimics her with that awful voice that makes Tori defend herself this time around: “I don’t talk like that.”  
Beck is the one to explain a little as usual: “We helped each other rehearse. We always do. And if you just say the lines often enough you know them all, even if they aren’t your own and you don’t have to learn them. Which is good because we can rehearse spontaneously in the car then, without the books. Like on our way to school or stuff.”  
Tori is surprised that she hasn’t known that until now though she and Beck were the leads in Uptown, Downtown together. She did get that Beck was off book very quickly. She never asked if he rehearsed some more times with anyone, let alone with Jade – who was also off book quite quickly, now that she thinks about it.  
Anyway...  
“We did that play years ago,” Tori continues because it does make sense that Jade knew the lines for Beck’s dialogue by heart directly after them rehearsing together. But both of them still knowing the lines now? Yes, Tori also recognized them but that’s all that she would be able to do.  
“Well, they’re good lines,” Beck says, shrugging. “They’re fun to repeat every now and then.”  
Jade slightly shakes her head: “I love Sophia Michelle but the lines are quite cheesy.”   
Beck just smiles and Tori also notices that yet, she still does know them by heart and still recited them with Beck without hesitation just now.  
Tori thinks it’s extremely beautiful. All of this. That they share this with each other. That they rehearse for all their plays together and are both off book for all the dialogues, one has to know by heart. She can imagine them just now, still lying in bed together and one of them randomly giving the other a line to check if they still know theirs to be prepared for the play.  
And she knows how much both of them love acting and... she wishes she could share her love for something like that. Just live her passion together again and again.  
She can even imagine them doing stuff like they did just now every now and then. Reciting their lines from plays years ago. For example when one of them says one of the sentences in the exact same tone of voice by accident about something else, when the situation is similiar or if a random common line is said while they reminisce like this.  
Of course they still know the lines then.  
Tori has to smile and it’s that moment that Andre suddenly pulls her out of her thoughts: “Want to sing Finally Falling?”  
Apparently, the others have come back around to the musical and Tori of course nods and gets right into it.  
But she has to say that she is incredibly happy that she has just learned something else about Jade and Beck and their relationship. Something about how they help each other out with their acting, how they share their passion with each other.


	8. Their caring

They light the fire up soon and keep the instruments close as they get their food out again. They have brought sausages, dough for twist bread and similiar things, they now put on sticks and warm up over the fire.  
It’s great fun for everyone except Jade of course: “Ugh. This is stupid.”  
“It’s so much fun!” Cat promptly claims with a big grin on her face.  
Jade gets her stick out of the fire and examines the two sausages she has on it. “They are always either burnt or still cold inside. Or both.”  
“You aren’t holding it at the right hight then,” Robbie says.  
He sits opposite to her and she glares at him through the fire and he makes a terrified noise.  
“Come on,” Beck lightly says, rubbing one of her legs that’s drapped over his, while he pulls his own stick out of the fire. “I think mine is done.”  
He holds the stick in front of her and she takes the sausage carefully off the stick, letting her own just fall onto the ground.  
But it obviously doesn’t make her much happier. “Also, it’s getting cold.”  
“Think so?” Andre asks and... well, Jade is right there. Tori has to say: “It is sort of chilly.”  
The fire of course is warm and great, but her back is definitely a little cold. She has already thought about getting herself a jacket out of her tent but she hasn’t felt like standing up yet.  
“Give me your jacket,” Jade tells Beck but it isn’t as commanding as she sometimes can talk. It’s softer and nearly with a little question mark in the end.  
She does wear a rather thin jacket already. They are all in long sleeves.  
Beck doesn’t ask her to say “please” today which he sometimes does. Instead he directly takes it off and helps her in without them moving apart even an inch.  
She leans heavily against him after while Cat finally chirps up again: “I don’t understand why you don’t love this, Jade. It’s so beautiful here.”  
“Yeah,” Robbie agrees, looking around, to the woods and the sky, happily. “I wasn’t all that psyched to go into nature but it’s actually quite nice.”  
“And we all spend some quality time with each other,” Andre agrees and Cat says as if it is something suggestive, before she giggles: “Ooooh, quality time.”  
Everyone looks at her confused for a second, then Tori decides to just ignore it: “Whatever... It’s especially great to have time to really talk. And to sing.”  
“How about singing an old campfire song?” Andre suggests and they are all on board.  
So it goes on with singing while they eat, but they also keep talking much in between.  
Tori doesn’t miss that Jade has totally given up on making her own food over the fire. Instead she’s eating some of the things that are also good cold – and Beck shares all of his food he holds into the fire silently with her. Of course he does, Tori thinks with a small smile. He always takes care of Jade and before she has to go to bed even slightly hungry, he provides food for her that she likes.  
They eat for a long time as they also only put so much on one stick and all hold only one into the fire. Tori gets herself a jacket to pull over while they are still eating. Cat gets herself a blanket out of the tent after they are just finished. Tori is still a little angry with herself that she hasn’t thought about bringing a blanket though for the night the sleeping bag is just fine. But here, in front of the fire, a blanket would probably be comfortable. But she guesses if she wants, she can ask Cat to share hers. At the moment, she is warm enough.  
Though, it really is getting colder and colder but the fire is still burning beautifully warm.  
They are just talking about the up-coming finals when Jade suddenly stands up.  
Tori sees Beck’s gaze following her into their tent, a little confused possibly about her standing up without warning him or saying where she’s about to go.  
The others just keep talking, probably guessing she wants to go to the bathroom or get herself another jacket.  
Tori watches her come back from their tent, another jacket of Beck’s in her arms and a big blanket.  
She holds out the jacket for Beck while she sits down next to him again. “Say something the next time.”  
Beck pulls on the jacket (that he must have brought to the trip exactly for this reason – so that Jade and him both are able to wear one of his jackets) before he puts his arm back around Jade where it has been for the last few hours like so often. “I wasn’t cold until you left just now.”  
“Yeah, right,” Jade answers, rolling her eyes while she puts her legs over Beck’s lap and then spreads the blanket over both of them.  
Tori looks in Beck’s face and realizes that Jade is right. He has been cold. For whatever reason he hasn’t said anything about it though. Maybe, because they have sat together like this before and him getting himself a jacket would have required Jade to move, get off of him. Maybe, he hasn’t wanted her to be angry about it. Or maybe, judging by how he has looked after her, he hasn’t wanted to stop touching her even for the few seconds to get himself something warm to wear.  
He shrugs though and decides with a smile: “We were keeping each other warm.”  
She rolls her eyes again. “Stop being so cheesy.”  
But he makes a kissy face and she does kiss him with a small smile before she makes absolutely sure that they are both covered by the blanket enough to keep them warm.  
Only then, she turns her attention back to the others, her head lying against Beck’s shoulder while they still talk about finals.  
Tori has to smile again. As it seems, Jade also takes care of Beck. Maybe not as obvious, maybe not even as much. But she has noticed him being cold without him telling her and she has gotten up for him without making a big deal out of it or expecting a thanks.  
And Tori is suddenly pretty certain, if she had watched them a little closer before, if she had been more... open to their relationship with their dynamic and everything, she probably would have noticed this way earlier.


	9. Their singing

Cat is the first to go to bed. It’s already Sunday when she does.  
They agree on getting up at 10am the next day though Jade obviously isn’t happy about that. But it makes the most sense with them still wanting to eat something in peace, then having to put down their tents, clean up the place after themselves and drive back to LA in time for all of them still being able to do their homework for Monday.  
So, that’s what they agree on before Cat skips into her tent. Robbie is the next to go, only minutes after. Tori has seen him nearly falling asleep on his log already but it seems he hasn’t wanted to be the first one to go to bed.  
Andre and Tori both follow an hour later and Beck and Jade promise them to put out the fire when they will finally also go to sleep.  
Tori is about to fall asleep, in her warm and comfy sleeping bag, thinking with a smile about the good weekend they had, when she hears something that could have been a car door, closed as quietly as possible.  
She opens up her eyes before she knows it. Is someone about to steal their car? Or has Beck, who is the one to have the key, just needed something out of it?  
She looks over to Cat who is fast asleep, then gets up on her knees with her sleeping back, opens up her tent quietly and peeks out.  
The fire is still lit. It can’t be a thief then because Jade and Beck would have seen him. She totally could have seen through the tent that the fire is still burning but she hasn’t even thought about that.  
Beck is just sitting down again on one of the logs. Not the same as Jade sits on this time, after they have sat together all weekend. But he is still sitting close to her, both at the far end of each their logs, facing each other, their knees nearly touching.  
Jade spreads the blanket back over Beck as well, trying to cover as much of both of them as possible, before Beck settles Robbie’s guitar in his lap.  
That has to be why he really was at the car. They put the instruments away a long while ago when the small family which is also on their camp site, went into their tent. They know they can get loud while making music, especially with all six of them, and they haven’t wanted to risk it that much to just start jamming again. Which they still nearly did but the risk would have been higher with the instruments right there.  
In restrospect, Tori isn’t sure if their talking and laughing was much quieter than their music would have been but the family never complained, so it’s fine either way.  
Beck starts strumming the guitar gently and Tori recognizes the song almost immediately: Everytime We Touch by Cascada, though not the version she is most used to but a slowed-down one.  
And then, Beck starts to sing the first verse, extremely soft, and there isn’t a second they’re not looking into each other’s eyes, both with a small and yet so deeply happy smile.  
Jade joins in with him for the first chorus, just as soft, both singing in perfect harmony.  
It’s so beautiful that it nearly hurts Tori.  
She realizes that she has rarely heard both of them sing together. In group situations at best like earlier today but also in some musicals. They have never had a duet though and Tori wonders why not one of their teachers have ever forced one upon them.  
And yes, Tori has once heard only the two of them sing together, at the Full Moon Jam after they have gotten back together. Spontaneously, they had begun to sing something but they never made it to the first chorus, but were making out before again already. A teacher had to usher them offstage in the end.  
Tori has also thought their voices matched well back then but hasn’t put any more thought into it.  
Now, she realizes they were able to do a duet back then and are also able to now because they do this sometimes. They actually sing together, just for them. They probably did this song before.  
And there is art that you have to share. Tori knows Beck and Jade both love to act and love to share it. They also both love writing things and sharing that. Beck never really expresses himself with singing though. He does sing if a role he really likes requires it but Tori knows that he avoids it. Jade is more of a singer, loves to express herself in that way as well.  
And Tori knows about expressing. She hasn’t known for quite some time but when she has been to her first annual showcase at Hollywood Arts, she has understood it. When she has gotten onto that stage for the perfomance that eventually got her into Hollywood Arts, she was uncertain at first until... something happened and she exploded and her heart kind of found its true love. She loves singing and she always feels like she has to get it out there, like she has to reach as many people as possible with it.  
She guesses that that’s kind of how most artists feel. She knows that that’s how Jade and Beck feel with acting and writing, how Jade feels with singing herself. But Beck doesn’t feel like that about his singing. They don’t feel like that with their dancing. And they don’t feel like that with their joined singing though it’s beautiful and kind of perfect and hurts Tori in all the best ways.  
Jade touches Beck’s knee very lightly with her hand right before the next verse begins and maybe that‘s a signal, at least Jade goes into the second verse on her own. And it sounds so raw that Tori knows she means every word of it as she looks directly into Beck’s eyes.  
Beck joins back in into the chorus and they sing it another time with him singing the actual lyrics while she tops it with some more harmonies on lesser words, using apparently only the most important words.  
Tori feels like she is invading into a very private moment. But she can’t pull back, close up the tent and go to sleep. She knows she won’t really hear any of the song anymore if she lies back down now with a closed tent and without seeing them and their lips moving. She wants to hear more of this, doesn’t want to miss one word or note.  
And then they come to an end and after the last note is sung, they already draw together, their lips meeting. It looks as if they were supposed to just shortly peck each other but both seem to decide differently as soon as they touch, pull each other closer, Jade about to get up and into Beck’s lap where the guitar is still sitting.  
That’s enough invading, Tori decides, and finally does close the tent.  
Cat is still asleep as she lies down back next to her.  
Through her eyelids she sees the fire going out, not long after. Soon, she falls asleep.


	10. Their world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the very last chapter for this little fic!  
> Thank you so much for the comment and the kudos and for just reading. Maybe, you'd also like to check out my other stuff. More Bade stories are definitely about to come.  
> But now, have fun with this last chapter. :)

Beck and Jade have to be woken up by Cat the next morning again though Tori asks her to do it fairly early today. After all, it makes the most sense to pack up first, then go shower, stay in the hut for breakfast and then get back to their car and drive home. Beck and Jade will need as much time as everyone else to pack up, so they of course should also wake up around the time they agreed on.  
Jade is grumpy again when they finally come out but Tori doesn’t care. She’s already working with Cat on putting their tent down. Or they have at least just started when Jade and Beck come out, their bags already packed. Tori and Cat were working on their bags until just now. But Cat had also spread everything she had out in the tent, so of course they had needed as much time as Beck and Jade had needed for their things with waking up and doing their hair.  
They all have their sanitary products and their clothes for the day put in backpacks they brought in case they wanted to go in the woods or something – which had been in their minds for a while but they obviously didn’t end up doing it –, so they can take them with them to the hut when everything else is packed inside the car.  
Jade and Beck put their bags to those of the others and get started on their own tent.  
Cat and Tori are taking the first tent poles apart when Tori hears Jade: “Let me pull this peg out first.”  
Tori looks over to her.  
She is zipping the tent up and indicates the peg closest to her while Beck goes down next to one on the other side.  
“It doesn’t matter which one we pull out first,” Beck says and Jade snaps: “Don’t argue with me.”  
“I’m just saying...” Beck calmly answers but Jade interrupts while she finally is pulling out the peg she indicated and the ones next to it so they can pull out the first poles: “Honestly? I do know how to pack up a tent.”  
Beck stands up again and comes around to help her with the poles. “I never said anything different,” he says though. “It just doesn’t matter which one we do first.”  
“It does. See?” Jade says while they break the tent down.  
Beck shrugs. “It also would’ve worked my way.”  
“Yeah, right,” Jade says sarcastically.  
“It would have,” Beck defends himself before he smiles slightly: “I’ll proof it to you the next time.”  
Tori is sure to see Jade roll her eyes. “There won’t be a next time.”  
Beck just pulls her into a soft kiss as an answer and Tori can see a small smile in Jade’s face when they break apart again and get back to work.  
Until Andre walks up to them. “Beck? Could we get the car key?”  
Jade doesn’t even look at him, Beck does though and almost in a way like he has forgotten Andre and the others were even there.  
He gets the key out of his pocket though and gives it to Andre. Tori realizes that Robbie and Andre have packed their tent up by now and put it to all their bags by the car, while Cat has also gotten much work done on their tent, humming a happy song.  
Tori hurries to get back to work too but has to smile while doing so. Because she just now realizes something that has been in front of her possibly from her very first day at Hollywood Arts, which probably sums up many of the other things she has noticed about Beck and Jade this weekend: They are living in their own world.  
The way they always bicker and even outright fight, even in public... because it doesn’t matter who else can witness because in the end nobody but them exists.  
The way they share a look and a kiss and everything is said... because they understand each other perfectly, because it’s their own world.  
Maybe, their relationship is actually beautiful in a way, Tori has never noticed before, has never been open to notice before.  
Yes, she has known they’re in love and has accepted that, even if she sometimes wondered about it. She has the feeling she now kind of also understands their love and will never wonder about it again. She doesn’t know why they fell in love with each other but she doesn’t even know if there has to be a specific reason. She realizes she has probably never been really in love. In opposite to Beck and Jade who are in love so much that they are living in their own world. Even with their friends, even when they sit apart from each other in class, even with everything going on... in the end it’s just the two of them.  
Of course, Beck is also possessive over Jade just like Jade is over Beck because everyone who flirts with the other one penetrates their world.  
And Jade has been considerate over their history and their shared memories while they were broken up because those memories belong in their world and aren’t to be touched or tarnished by anyone.  
Meanwhile, when Jade is close by, Beck is able to sleep through noises he apparently usually wakes up by because Jade makes him feel safe and comfortable and there’s no possible danger in their own world.  
And Beck can actually make Jade behave like a child, make her feel safe in that sense that she feels comfortable behaving like a child because in their own world nobody can harm her and hold her childishness against her.  
And of course they plan their future together. Of course they love to dance together, to act together, to sing together, even or especially if it’s just for them.  
They help each other out with the acting and probably elsewhere and take care of each other.  
Tori hasn’t really known all these things. Some she probably should’ve known, should’ve noticed before but she didn’t.  
However, now she notices. She thinks about every look they share that always seem to hold so much and she understands that it does hold that much.  
She looks over to them again and watches them roll up the tent and pushing it into the bag, silently because they don’t need words, before they share another kiss and another. Before Beck gently pushes Jade down into the grass, holds himself up closely over her and kisses her again.  
Jade doesn’t protest but wraps her arms around Beck and Tori sees that pure smile on her face again that is so wonderfully mirrored by Beck, and she turns back to helping Cat pack up their own tent. This isn’t her moment. This is Beck’s and Jade’s. She just hopes that some day she also will love and be loved like that.


End file.
